Jacob deGrom leads Mets to 3-1 win over Mariners

Jacob deGrom pitched seven innings to power the Mets to a needed 3-1 victory

SEATTLE – Searching for ways to ensure Jacob deGrom pitched deep into the season despite his innings restriction, the Mets recently contemplated temporarily placing deGrom in the bullpen before ultimately deciding to let him continue as a starter.

Smart decision.

DeGrom pitched seven innings to power the Mets to a 3-1 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday at Safeco Field. The youngster allowed just one run on five hits to help snap the Mets (47-53) three-game losing streak.

“We are seeing exactly what all the reports out of the minor leagues said about this guy. He keeps the ball down and gets ground balls, he keeps the ball in the park” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “It’s really impressive to see.”

DeGrom ended the half pitching as well as he had all year, as he had a 1.65 ERA in his previous five outings, and he continued that against Seattle. He struck out seven and walked just one, and now has a 0.86 ERA in his last three outings.

After allowing a leadoff single to Endy Chavez, deGrom retired the next 11 batters before walking Kyle Seager in the fourth. In a key situation in the first with a runner at second and one out, he struck out Robinson Cano and Seager.

“That was a big at-bat,” deGrom said of the Cano at-bat.

The Mariners scored their lone run off deGrom (4-5) in the fifth as Dustin Ackley doubled to center to slice the lead to 2-1, but deGrom stranded Ackley at third.

DeGrom said he and catcher Travis d’Arnaud were on the same page throughout the game, and his change-up worked. Closer Jenrry Mejia later notched his 12th save.

“With a lot of lefties in the lineup, good night to have my change-up,” deGrom said.

Tuesday marked deGrom’s first start of the second half, and the team is keeping an eye on his innings as he has been allotted 185 innings this season.

DeGrom has now tossed119 innings this season, which includes the 38 1/3 he threw with Class AAA Las Vegas. Pitching coach Dan Warthen estimated he has about 12 starts remaining this season.

“One of the things you do when you have a young team is you have to balance the development with the help. We don’t need to have another Matt Harvey on our hands,” Collins said in reference to the Mets being without Harvey for likely all of this season. “We need to make sure we don’t get carried away as far as work load and everything else and keep him as fresh as we can and as strong as we can.”

The Mets have several routes they could take to limit deGrom’s innings, including moving him to the bullpen, pulling him from starts early, or starting a six-man rotation.

When the Mets originally called up deGrom, he was going to be a reliever but an injury pushed him into the rotation and he’s never left.

“When guys get a chance to start they never look back. I think Jake is doing that,” Collins said. “He’s gotten his opportunity and made the most of it.”

DeGrom’s excellence was needed as the offense scored three runs or less for the fourth straight game. In the second, deGrom was handed the only two runs he needed.

With a runner on, d’Arnaud hit a low sinker to center that center fielder James Jones failed to grab in a sliding effort, which resulted in the ball rolling by him and resulting in an RBI triple for the catcher that placed the Mets ahead, 1-0. Shortstop Ruben Tejada added an RBI single for the second run.

Lucas Duda provided an insurance run in the eighth when he blasted a monster homer, his 15th, to push the Mets lead to 3-1.

“It’s nice to get the win,” Duda said. “Hopefully we can take the series.”